The Seduction of Mr Sirius Black
by green1234
Summary: In the summer holidays after my sixth year at Hogwarts, I fucked up my friendship with Sirius Black. Evidently my judgement takes a serious blow under the influence of fire-whiskey, raging hormones and incredibly gorgeous boys with dark, annoyingly perfect hair. The solution? Schemes, conspiracy, (more annoyingly perfect hair, ugh) and a little seduction among friends.
1. Part 1: The fucking-up of friendships

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has already read this story, I appreciate every one of you! I'm back with a slight facelift to chapter 1, so I hope you enjoy! Reviews are always appreciated :)

All recognizable characters etc are the property of JK Rowling

* * *

I befriended Sirius Black in my third year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Among my friends, I was the only one who elected to take arithmancy, and on my first day in the class, I was beginning to sense doom and terror in my arithmancy future.

I eyed the Slytherins in the corner cautiously as I sat by myself in Professor Vector's classroom. I was not too optimistic about the prospect of spending to years in a classroom without anyone I knew, and the other students in the classroom didn't seem to offer much in the way of comraderie. Aside from the four Slytherins in the corner, there were a group of five Ravenclaws occupying the front row; no space for me there. A little behind me sat three Hufflepuffs, who in all likelihood wouldn't mind me, but seemed to be pretty close already. So, I prepared myself for the next two years, as professor vector started the class.

She was describing assessment as four familiar faces crashed into the classroom one after the other.

"Very sorry we're late professor," said James Potter.

He was interrupted by Sirius Black, who was pushing in behind him. "Yes, terribly sorry-"

"We were intercepted by peeves, you see," James continued.

"It's true, we were," said Remus Lupin, who had come up beside them.

Peter Pettigrew was the last one to enter the classroom, and he did so looking absolutely befuddled. "He jumped us in the corridor-" he trailed off, looking weakly into the distance.

"I'm afraid Pete's a little harrowed, Professor," said Sirius, "Peeves hung him on the wall by his robes."

"It took us 15 minutes to get him down," Remus supplied helpfully. He clapped Peter on the shoulder lightly, and Peter jumped a little.

"Just sit down boys," Professor Vector held up her hands to quiet them, "the lesson has already begun."

"Thank you Professor," said Remus, as he looked around the classroom for a place to sit. I looked down quickly to avoid his eyes, as I hadn't spoken to any of them much. When he spotted me by myself, he gave James and Sirius a little push and they started towards where I was sat; Peter trailed after them, still looking a little shook.

I felt relief flooding me as they sat down on my row, Remus and Peter on one side of me, James and Sirius on the other.

"Hi," James whispered to me as professor Vector continued her description of the course, "sorry about that." He smiled easily at me, and I felt some of my nervousness ease away.

"Don't be," I whispered back lowly, "we all know Peeves; once he broke into our dorm and turned all of our clothing pink." I shrugged.

James grinned, and next to him, Sirius leant over to join the conversation. "I remember that, you all wore pink robes for like three days." He smiled fondly at the memory. "I always thought that was a fashion statement."

James and Remus chuckled lowly, as I shook my head, "no, we just couldn't work out how to undo it," I explained, "took McGonagall a good few days to figure it out." I was doodling absentmindedly on the parchment I had gotten out to takes notes on. "And I'm pretty sure she had to strike some sort of deal with Peeves to do it," I added as an afterthought.

The boys chortled at the image of a frustrated McGonagall making a deal with Peeves the poltergeist for the release of the clothing he had taken hostage.

"Speaking of your dorm," James said (in one of the least smooth transitions since they replaced The Doctor), "your friends not taking arithmancy?"

I bit my lip to contain a giggle. James was so painfully obvious about his crush on Lily it was funny. Next to him I heard Sirius snort to himself. "No," I said, "only me."

"Ah well," Remus bumped my shoulder lightly, "I guess you're stuck with us then."

And that was it; the boys, for all their flaws (you know, the pranks and the backtalk and light stalking of brilliant red-heads), were nice. They accepted me easily, and did not at any point attempt to humiliate, hex, ridicule or stalk me, and in third year, let me tell you, I was grateful.

The story of how I fucked up my friendship with Sirius Black, however is a bit more complicated. You see, in my fifth year, after I had been friends with Sirius Black for two and a half years, and realized how amazingly gorgeous he really was, I became hopelessly smitten. This was a big problem for me, as I had been watching him since second year being an absolute heartbreaker, and it had been quite a point of pride with me how absolutely not smitten I was. But halfway through fifth year I began to notice things. Little things about him, like how he'd reach over for a sip of my coffee, and then frown and complain about the taste. Or how he'd throw the boys a thumbs up when one of them was talking to a girl they fancied (more often than not, the boy in question was James in yet another attempt at chatting up Lily). Or how he'd radiate death at any student who tried to hex a first or a second year. I couldn't help but to notice them. It's the sort of thing that's wont to happen when you're a teenager and you're friends with guy that oozes charisma out the backend. So I noticed them, over and over, and I wanted desperately to stop, because I knew that the day I fancied Sirius Black would be the end of my life as I knew it.

…

"It's the end of my life as I know it!" I groaned as threw myself theatrically down on my bed in the dorm I shared with my friends.

"Don't you think you're being a tiny bit dramatic?" Lily Evans, head-girl, smarty-pants, redhead and current (cough *eternal* cough) object of James Potter's affection, raised her eyebrows at me from where she was perched on her bed.

"Um, no, actually, I'm being very, very accurate." I turned my face into my pillow and screamed a little, you know- for effect. "I can't believe I snogged Sirius-fucking-Black! I'm never living this down!"

"Nope," agreed Lily.

"Never," said Jemma Walker unhelpfully without so much as looking up from her book. I threw my pillow at her, but the bloody chaser she was she ducked it without having to even look at me. "Hey!" she said, "it's not my fault you snogged Sirius Black, that was your own marvelous making."

Emily McNeely came out of the bathroom with her toothbrush in her mouth. She muttered something unintelligible as a bit of toothpaste came out the corner of her mouth. She must have seen the exasperated looks on our faces, as she rushed back into the bathroom and remerged, sans toothbrush.

"Sirius Black did help a little," she grinned, and her eyes gleamed evilly. I was going to murder the lot of them.

"Look," Lily said, as I seethed quietly without looking at them. "Don't worry about it too much. You're friends. You'll work something out."

Emily grinned again: "ah, but the problem is, Lils, Maggie doesn't want to work it out. She just wants to snog Sirius again."

I sat up and glared at her. "Jemma, please pass me my pillow so I can _throw it at Emily_."

Jemma shook her head and smirked, "nope, not helping."

I groaned and lay back on my bed again. And bumped my head, stupid Jemma.

"How the bloody hell I am supposed to act around him now? He'll realize I like him," I was beginning to feel stressed (more stressed, really, let's be honest here, I wasn't exactly relaxed before), "it's going to ruin our friendship, and that's going to ruin my friendship with the boys, and your friendship with the boys…" I stopped for a second as I realized something: "Lily is never going to get with James now! What have I done?!"

"Ehem, Lily never _was_ going to get with James, thank you very much. And calm down, you're being ridiculous!" Lily looked at me scoldingly, like I was a first-year who had snuck out after curfew, and she was giving me a detention.

"Okay, don't think I'm forgetting about Mag's situation here, because I'm not," Jemma finally looked up from her book to look at me. Then she turned her eyes on Lily, "but did I just hear you saying you are never getting with James Potter? Ever?" Her eyes were sparkling teasingly at Lily. "As in you don't blush every time the conversation turns to him?"

Lily blushed again. "I do not!"

I laughed, "actually, Lils, you're doing it right now."

"Oh, bog off, the lot of you!" Lily's hands flew to cover her crimson cheeks. "I think we're losing sight of the conversation at hand here," she said, "which is Maggie snogged Sirius Black and now her life as she knows it is over." I glared at her. "Hey, your words, not mine! And anyway, I think you're overreacting."

Overreacting? I think not. The things I had said really were real concerns… I valued my friendship with Sirius (the rest of the boys as well, of course, but that's not the point) and I was convinced that after what had happened he would start looking at me differently. The thing about snogging a friend (especially one you fancy) is that it is almost always awkward afterwards. And I wasn't wrong about the awkward part. Sirius, who was usually quick-witted and ever-present, had barely spoken to me since returning to school. He and the boys went and sat somewhere else on the train, and during the feast, he had sat four seats down from me and only spoken to me when addressing the group.

Blimey, crushes are hard.

…

Okay, so you're probably thinking that I missed a part of the story, right? Don't worry, I´ll fill you in.

James Potter, absolute doofus; eternally gone for one Lily Evans; (in one incredibly unbelievable turn of circumstances) head boy, and my friend, came from a family of a great hair-care fortune. As such, his parents had a big house in which our story begins.

I am the youngest among my friends, my birthday being on August 24th, and when I came of age in the summer of 1977, he insisted on having a party at his own house to celebrate, and for, a "spectacular night of revelry and mauradery before our return to Hogwarts where we'll be enslaved by our NEWTs" (I'm not joking, it was word-for-word on the actual invitation; bit of a posho, James is). So on august 24thwe all made the trip to Potter house to revel and maraud.

(dramatic flashback ripple across the screen)

Lily appeared in cloud of auburn hair, and beamed at me. She had to come and collect me, seeing as I was the only one without an apparition license. She greeted me, and my slightly baffled parents; after all, it's not every day you see a teenage girl appear out of nowhere, and they never got quite used to it. I chose Lily for a reason though; the fact that she was muggleborn as well meant she could communicate easily with my parents, and understood where they came from.

After a brief chat and various warnings and urgings ( _"don't drink too," "much only drink drinks you've poured yourself,"_ etc., etc.) we bode my parents goodbye, and set off to the Potters.

"Blimey," said Lily as we appeared outside the house on the photograph in her hands. "I mean, I knew he was rich, but…" she trailed off.

She was right; I really hadn't been expecting this. The picture was impressive enough, but standing in the driveway I felt rather like I was going to court. The house, while not absolutely enormous screamed wealth. It had all of those posh-house things like columns, a line-moved law, iron gates and a driveway larger than my house. We approached carefully, as if we were in the wrong place, and knocked on the door with unsure hands.

The door swung open dramatically. Inside, there was absolute silence, which, based on past Potter-party experience was very, very unusual. "Hello?" I called hesitantly into the void.

And it exploded with a shouted mix of:

"Surprise!"

"Happy birthday!"

"Ouch, you stepped on my foot,"

and "Lily's here!"

James ignored the snubbed face of Remus Lupin clutching his foot and put a birthday hat on my head with a massive grin. "Were you surprised?" He asked and looked at me mirthfully.

"James you _invited_ me here. _For my birthday party_ , you breadhead."

"I knew, I totally knew it! You totally didn't see it coming!" He gave me a quick hug, and I rolled my eyes. This he did not notice however, as his attention had turned to Lily. With a slightly cooler tone of voice he greeted her. "Lily," he bowed slightly (yes, really) at her and cleared his voice a little awkwardly, "I'm glad you could make it." He clapped his hands together excitedly, "can I get you lovely ladies anything to drink?" And I'd be damned if I didn't see a hint of a blush in Lily's cheek.

The party really was a blast; they had gotten alcohol by the crate, invited all of our friends, put snacks out on every surface, and had, for the occasion of my birthday, gotten their hands on a large amount of muggle-music, which they played intermittently with wizards-classics.

I was sat on the carpeted floor in a corridor on the third story when Sirius found me. I could hear the steady beat from the music on the ground floor, and felt my head spinning slightly on accord of the firewhiskey James had so kindly treated me to. "There you are, honeybear!" He looked me over and grinned. "Are you pissed?" He thumped down next to me on the carpet.

"I'm allowed," I said, "I'm seventeen, remember?" I looked at him lazily. It was absolutely ridiculous how good he looked even after the dancing, drinking and sweating. Somehow his hair looked just as perfect as ever; I wanted to reach out and touch it.

"Hey, I'm not criticizing. You can do what you want. Also, I might be a slightly bit drunk myself," he grinned. "Why are you all the way up here tough, aren't you having fun? We miss you down there."

I smiled, and felt my face warm slightly. "I am," I said, "I'm having loads of fun. I just needed a minute for my head to slow down." I leaned back against the wall for a minute and looked up at the ceiling. "And also," I added, "this house is fucking massive, and I needed to test my hypothesis that it is actually infinite."

He laughed. "You're such a nerd." He bumped my shoulder. "What did you conclude then?"

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the effect his laugh had on me. "I haven't actually gotten to that yet…" I stroked the carpet absentmindedly, "I had to touch the carpet. It looked so soft…"

"It is extraordinarily soft…"

"Hey, thanks for playing my favorite music, snugglebums."

"Anything for you, love-muffin," he smiled crookedly at me in that beautifully dangerous way of his, and my head started to spin faster. I clamped my eyes shut, willing my heart to slow down. Had I been slightly drunker, I might have leaned over and kissed him then. But I didn't, and I thanked myself for being sensible enough not to drink too heavily in such close proximity to him.

"You know, I actually quite like your music," he mused, "I only started listening to it to irritate Walburga, but it is quite good. James was all for it of course. Probably thought it would help him get Lily the poor bugger."

I started giggling uncontrollably. It really was absolutely hilarious. "I think she's actually starting to fancy him you know," I gasped and clamped my hand over my mouth. Okay, so maybe I was a little drunker than previously thought. "You mustn't tell them I said that," I said and started giggling again. "Lily would murder me in my sleep. And probably get away with it too."

"I won't," he assured me. Then he shook his head disbelievingly, a wide grin across his face. "I can't believe it. He actually wore her down, and here we've all been thinking him delusional. In the best way possible, of course."

"Of course," I agreed solemnly. "Love him to bits, obsessive tendencies and slight stalking aside." Although, I mused to myself, he really had toned it down as of late. "I think it must be because he's pulled back a bit."

"That's what Remus told him to do" Sirius said. We fell silent for a bit.

"How's your head?" he asked after a while.

"Slowing down," I said, "I think I might be ready to go back downstairs now."

"What about your hypothesis?"

"Never mind that. I can't really think about infinity at the moment."

He stood up easily (almost), and reached out his hand for me to grasp with a court bow: "mi'lady?"

I put my hand in his and sighed dramatically. "Be still my heart!" (Hey, he didn't need to know that I actually wasn't joking.) He pulled me upright, and I must have overestimated the extent to which my head had slowed down, as I stumbled and fell right into his arms. I was suddenly very aware of the close proximity in which we now found ourselves. Apparently, so was Sirius. My heart went into overdrive as he adjusted his grip on me and put his hand on my cheek.

I looked into his eyes (dreamy and grey and oh, so Sirius) and tried to reassemble the shattered remains of my common sense. I could swear he was leaning in closer, and it was making it very hard, so I looked down. "I think this is a mistake," I said and immediately I regretted it; here I had been dreaming of kissing Sirius Black for seven months, and now I was throwing my chance out the window. My common sense butted in for a minute to remind me that kissing him was going to ruin our friendship, and that he probably didn't fancy me and the he didn't do relationships, and my resolve strengthened a little.

"You're probably right," he said. He didn't let go of me. "We'd probably regret it…" His hand that had been on my cheek had moved slowly to brush a bit of renegade hair out of my face.

"Exactly!" I ran my hands up from where they had gripped his shoulders when I fell, down to his chest. "And it'd be awkward, and…"

"And our friends would never let us forget it…" his eyes darkened slightly, and they flicked down for a moment before I met his gaze again.

He was leaning in closer. I was leaning in closer, while my common sense sat in the back of my head, shouting for me to stop looking in his fucking eyes. When I moved my hands slightly where they were on his chest, and felt his muscles tense under my grip, I could actually hear my common sense huffing in indignation and walking away. Sod it all.

And that is when I kissed Sirius Black. And Sirius Black kissed me.

My mind racing and my heart hammering, I felt his lips moving languidly with mine. Above all the noise, everything in that moment was just _Sirius_ ; when he pulled me closer, when his hand moved to tangle in my hair, when his tongue grazed my lips, everything was just so fundamentally Sirius and I knew I could never look at him the same.

His lips moved to my jaw, and I felt a low moan escape me as my stomach surged. Sirius growled low in his throat and pushed me backwards until my back was against the wall. I lost myself in him.

I don't know how long we were there, but a distant voice pulled my out of my Sirius (okay, and partly firewhiskey) induced haze.

"Maggie! Where the fuck are you?"

I pulled back from Sirius quickly having forgotten, of course, that I was pressed up against a wall. My head hit the wall with a loud thump. Sirius looked at me in shock, before he collected himself. "Mags, are you okay?" he looked concerned. My mind had been snapped back to reality, and the magnitude of what had just happened was just dawning on me, and I started to feel slightly panicked. I could still hear Jemma calling for me somewhere, my head was aching dully and Sirius was still looking at me intently, with something I couldn't place.

"Oh god," I said slowly, "oh god, what in the fucking hell did we just do!"

"Maggie-"

"No, look Sirius, you don't have to say anything, okay." I turned away slightly, not being able to look him in the eye. My mind was reeling, I had to get away. "You don't have to say anything; look, this was obviously a mistake. I'm going to find Jemma." I picked my shoes up from the floor where I had taken the off earlier, and left down the hall without looking at him again.


	2. Part 2: Resolutions

Okay so I'm going to skip past all the awkwardness the rest of the night and the next day, right past the tense interactions on the train and in the great hall we returned to school. I'm not even going to mention how he hadn't addressed me by anything by my name since it happened or how I felt like I could feel pieces of my heart breaking off. I'm just going to jump to where I left off earlier; in the dorm with the girls. That's where the story _really_ starts.

Right, so previously we've seen some complaining; "I snogged Sirius," "my life is over," yada, yada, yada, followed by some (rather rude I must say) remarks from the people who call themselves my friends. But then Lily said something that would get me into all sorts of trouble:

"He might like you too, have you thought of that?"

I sat up so quickly that my vision blinked in and out as I stared blankly at Lily. Jemma had put down her book and was looking at Lily with her eyebrow raised, and Emily had pulled her nightgown properly down over her head and looked at her incredulously.

"Maggie, I'm sorry about this," Jemma said, as she put a bookmark in and put her book aside, "but honestly, Lils, I'm doubting that boy has ever _liked_ anyone."

Jemma and Emily were looking at me with that special best-friend trademark mix of concern, sympathy and pity you only see when you've gone and caught feelings for someone you absolutely should not catch feelings for. "I know that, Jem, I've known him since he discovered girls. Honestly, Lily, I appreciate the thought, but that's not what's happening here."

Lily collected herself and drew her hair away from her face in a very business-like manner, which usually meant we were about to get calmly schooled about something or other. She inclined slightly, "I'm being serious."

She was met with snort and disbelieving eyes from the rest of the room. "Okay, first: you're one of the only girls he's actually friends with," she held her hand up counting as she went.

"Okay, that's stupid," I interjected, "you guys are friends with him too."

"Yeah, kind of, but he is closer with you," Emily said, and Lily nodded empathetically.

"That's true," piped in Jemma.

I was about to protest again, but was silenced by a hand-gesture from Lily, that I knew better than to try to ignore.

"Second," Lily continued, raising a second finger, "he's always flirting with you."

Jemma and Emily nodded simultaneously. "Come on, Lils, don't forget: she flirts with him too," Emily grinned.

I looked at them incredulously. "I do _not_ flirt with him!"

"Yeah right," snorted Jemma, "and Lily _isn't_ going to end up with James."

Lily looked daggers at Jemma, but did not say anything (hah, she might as well have admitted to fancying him), rather choosing to respond to me. "Oh please," she said launching into a (horribly inaccurate) impression of me, "'oh, sugarpuff, you're so hilarious when you try to endanger the whole of Hogwarts with you gallant pranks.'"

Emily chimed in: "'Oh, sweetie-honey pie, stop stealing cheeky sips of my coffee, you absolute dashing jokester.'"

Can you believe those blatant affronts to my honor? "Excuse me, I do not sound that way! And besides, it is not flirting, it is friendly banter," I defended myself, rightly.

Lily ignored me completely, "Third: he's not gotten with a girl for absolute _ages_!"

I paused for a minute. While I could deny her other points (because they were rubbish), this one I could not deny. In the first years I knew him, Sirius never had girlfriends, but he always seemed to have _girls_ , so the fact that none of us had seen him with a girl for some months was actually somewhat remarkable.

"See," Lily exclaimed, "you can't deny it!"

"Maybe not," I conceded, "but that doesn't actually mean anything, Lily. Even if he does like someone, it wouldn't be me."

"Now wait a minute," said Jemma, "while I'm still of the belief that Sirius Black has the emotional maturity of, well, of Sirius, if he was to like someone, it would be you Mags."

Emily nodded slowly, "yeah, she's probably right. I can't really see Sirius in a relationship, but if I were to force myself, it would be you."

Lilly nodded enthusiastically. "Honestly, Maggie, what have you got to lose anyhow?" She looked expectant and focused, like she would when she knew she was winning a discussion in class. "You've said the friendship is over anyway, so why not just go for it?" She shrugged and added with slyly: "even if it doesn't work out, at least you might get a good snog out of it."

Jemma looked at Lily in mock horror, "Lily Evans, I cannot believe your proper self would say such a thing!"

I wasn't really paying them much attention though, as the wheels were churning about in my head. I mean Lily did have a point. Not about Sirius liking me, but you know, about the snogging and stuff. I had already pissed all over our friendship, so I really didn't have much to lose did I? My thoughts were racing dizzyingly; I'm almost ashamed to admit that a large part of them were concerned with what we could do if I could convince him to reciprocate my feelings. I mean, even if he didn't fancy me, was there any harm in actually trying to get him to fancy me? Normally I'd be worried he'd figure out I liked him, but that was a moot point wasn't it. I thought, like Lou Reed would say, it was time for me to take a walk on the wild side. Maybe, if I used my *intellect* I could even get some extra perks out of it.

"Okay…" I spoke slowly, measuring my words very carefully, "I'm not saying I'm going to do it… But," I looked at Lily and grinned, "if I was to do it, Lily would have to do it with me."

I could tell Lily knew what I meant, by the blush in her cheeks and the way she looked quickly down at her feet. I figured by this point all she really needed with James was a little push; she was too proud to admit to like him by herself.

Emily, however, seemed very confused. She wrinkled her nose slightly, "you want Lily to try to snog Sirius _with_ you?"

"I'm sorry, babe, I think that is something you have to do on your own," Jemma supplied, very unhelpfully.

"No," I said, still looking at Lily. "I want Lily to try a little with James."

Jemma and Emily both grinned widely. "Go get em' girls!" Emily whooped.

"Maggie!" Lily looked quite flustered, a completely different Lily from the one who had, only minutes before, been calmly explaining to me why I should pursue the man of my dreams. "I am not going to go after James Potter!"

"I'm not saying you should go after him, I just mean, you know, give him the benefit of the doubt for a while." I looked at her sincerely. I really did wish she would try to let go of some of the assumptions she still clung to about James. "He's really matured, what with the quidditch captain and head boy responsibilities and such. And I think that if you let yourself, you'd see how awesome he is!" Lily was looking a little less armed and ready for battle. "and then maybe _you'll_ get a good snog out of it!" This time it was my turn to duck when a pillow came towards my head. Unfortunately we can't all be chasers with lightning reflexes (trust me, I've tried; James just laughed at me, the bastard) and it hit me square in the head.

I laughed and threw the pillow back to her. "So what are we doing then?"

Lily stuffed her pillow behind her back and sighed resolutely. "Fine," she threw her hands up dramatically, "if you, Margaret Josephine Philpott will attempt to seduce," Lily paused to waggle her eyebrows suggestively, "Mr. Sirius Black, then I, Lily Evans, will try not to get annoyed by everything James Potter says."

I shuffled forward to the end of my bed and reached out my hand to her. "Deal." She shook it.

…

Now that I had decided to attempt to seduce Sirius Black, I first had to lay some sort of plan, and more importantly, get back on speaking terms with him.

I began my devious plan without any idea whatsoever what I was to do, as I pulled Sirius aside after a painfully tense breakfast on Monday morning. I made sure to use the opportunity to touch his wrist loosely, lingering a second even when I got him away from the bustle of the students trying to get to their first classes.

When I let go of his wrist he turned to face me. The tension was tangible. It wasn't the good kind of tension either, you know the kind that makes your tummy bubble with anticipation, and your fingers and toes tingle, it was the other kind; the unbelievably awkward, lead-in-my-boots kind of tension.

"Soo…" Sirius looked like he was at a loss for words. I must say, I could relate.

I steeled my resolve trying to remember the things the girls had told me ( _"you can do it", "you're a sexy, sexy conqueror of love" "make him want you")._ "So," I said, "I wanted to talk about what happened at James' house." I was actively combatting the shyer part of me, that was screaming violently at me to _look away from his damn eyes, this is uncomfortable enough, damnit!_ But as I had recently decided to become a strong and confident women, I told that part of me to shut it.

"I was afraid of that," Sirius said slowly, and ran a hand through his (still annoyingly perfect) hair. I knew how he hated situations in which he was unsure of how to behave, and I had to say, I wasn't absolutely loving it either.

"Yeah, well, it's happening" I said, squaring my shoulders.

Sirius opened his mouth, but I cut him off before he could say anything. "I miss being friends," I said simply, "and it seems ridiculous to let a little moment of impaired judgement under the influence of considerable amounts of alcohol and teenage hormones ruin it." I reached out and put my hand on is arm.

Sirius was silent for a moment. "Yeah," he said after a minute, "I'd like to be friends again."

I smiled: "I think we _have_ to stay friends, actually, because damnit if I'm going to leave Hogwarts without getting Lily with James."

A wide grin spread across his face. "Now we're talking, buttercup," he slung his arm casually over my shoulder as we began walking to potions, "nothing like a bit of loving scheming and deceit among friends."

My words exactly.


	3. Part 3a: Schemes and seduction (kind of)

I was not used to being in this kind of situation. You know one where all your experience and all your knowledge kind of fail you, and you're left having not a fucking clue as to what should be done. I had had boyfriends of course (okay I'm exaggerating a little; I had had one boyfriend— his name was Will and we dated for two months and then he left me for a girl whose parents had connections at the ministry, the prick), but that hadn't usually required very much conscious seducing. I usually found that the boys (ehem, boy) I interacted with approached me, despite the fact I hadn't so much as looked at them.

So, I consulted an expert, or rather, I assembled a task force (the task force was Lily, Jemma and Emily, who's surprised?). Together we came up with a battle plan (kind of). I waited for a week after we returned to school; after all I wanted things between Sirius and I become friendly again if I wanted any chance to lay my charm on him.

So on Monday morning the next week as students were filing into the potions classroom, I grabbed Sirius' arm when he walked past my work station. "Come sit with me, peach, I have a plan."

Sirius quirked an eyebrow, but excused himself from his friends and dumped his bag on the floor next to me, before taking a seat. He grinned at me, "I'm intrigued, do tell." I could feel my nervousness bubble in my belly, and when he grinned at me like that, it did a little flop.

He was leaning on the desk next to me, and I leaned in conspiratorially, and reminded myself to breathe ( _you are a sexy, sexy goddess of love_ ). "I think Lily is warming to James." I was very close to him, and I was sure he would be able to feel my breath on his ear. "I think she might actually sit next to James now, if it looks like it wasn't her choice." Sirius didn't need to know that she had actually already agreed to sit with James if it meant I could sit with Sirius.

I lingered for a minute, and when I pulled away there was a mischievous understanding in his eyes. "Brilliant," he said, "I've been wondering when the conspiring would begin. Have you got any other things planned?"

I chuckled. "Well, Lily's proud," I said quietly, "so we need to figure out a way to push them together." I mused over this for a minute; while today's plotting had, in fact, been aimed at someone other than who Sirius currently had in mind, I really did want my friends to get together. "But I don't think James should ask her out again for a while," I added as an afterthought, "I think she may be beginning to see him mature, but if he chats her up again too soon, she'll just get annoyed all over again."

"Fair enough," said Sirius and nodded.

Just then professor Slughorn shuffled in to the front of the classroom and perched at the end of his desk.

"Morning class!" His enthusiasm was tangible, as his eyes drifted between his chosen few. "As you know, this week we will be covering the basics of medicinal potions. This could be very useful to you _clever_ -clogs in this room," I tried not to be offended when his eyes lingered on Lily as he said this, "who may consider a career in healing!" This was clearly something Slughorn had been looking forward to, as he bounced to his feet, and went around the desk to write the day's topics on the board, adding underlines and exclamation point as if to really make sure we knew what a fun topic this was surely to be. "Unfortunately, the ministry say I may not teach you any of the really _exciting_ healing potions, so today shall be a theory lesson!"

This sentiment was met with a collective groan. "Worry not class, as later this week we will be making," he took a pause for dramatic effect, and gestured widely as he exclaimed: " _bruise-removing paste_!"

The mood of the class did not improve, with the notable exception of the boys, who seemed strangely interested in the prospect of spending an entire lesson on talk and the making of a bruise-removing paste. While I didn't mind the topic of the lesson, I was not too keen on spending an hour listening to Slughorn ramble about something which I had already read up on. However, I must admit that I wasn't too opposed to the idea of not needing to pay attention to potion-making whilst sat next to Sirius.

Seeing it as an opportunity, I leaned over to Sirius and whispered: "how many thing do you think we could get into that cauldron over there without ol' Sluggie noticing?" I nodded towards an empty cauldron on the side of Slughorn's desk.

Sirius smirked, trying to appear to Slughorn as if he was paying attention to the rant he had now launched into about ministry regulations regarding teaching of medicinal potions.

"You're on," he said, digging up a spare piece of parcel from his bag and tearing pieces off it to make small balls for himself and for me. Handing me one, he checked to see that Slughorn wasn't looking at him (he was in fact perched casually on James and Lily's workstation discussing the benefits of potion-use in healing) before aiming and sinking his paper-ball neatly into the cauldron.

I bit my lip, trying not to laugh, and looked over at him, grinning widely. He met my eyes, his bright and full of laughter. I let myself be distracted for just a minute, letting my gaze linger for a few seconds than I normally would; it was nerve-wracking and exhilarating and wonderful as his eyes became more intense and more curious, and I felt tension building slowly.

Now pre-kiss Maggie, would look away quickly and not give it a second-thought- hell, pre-kiss Maggie would never look in his eyes for this long. But post-kiss Maggie was a changed women, and instead, I darted my eyes down to linger on his lips for a second. It was brief; brief enough to get away with in a classroom, but enough that he noticed. When I met his eyes again, I didn't have to fake the blush in my cheek as I looked down to the desk again, faking embarrassment.

Sirius cleared his throat lightly. I picked my paper-ball up and turned it in my fingers in couple of times, willing my heart to slow down, before I focused myself again and took aim for the cauldron. A quick look at Slughorn to confirm he wasn't looking (currently listing the uses and pitfalls of skelegro on the blackboard) and I took my shot.

Now, you already know I'm not brilliant at sports (specifically ball related sports, and especially ball-related sports with magic balls) so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I missed the cauldron by a few inches. Sirius snorted lightly next to me. I elbowed him playfully in the ribs and he ducked, laughing silently.

I felt something hit the side of my head suddenly, and looked up to see James waving at me. He gestured to Sirius, and I nudged him to get him to look at James. When James had caught his attention, he held up an apple and raised his eyebrows, looking over at the cauldron. Sirius grinned and shot him the thumbs up. Slughorn was still stood with his back against the class, no longer writing on the board, but muttering something to himself about Bulgarians and bloody armadillo bile.

James threw the apple into the cauldron in one smooth move, and the cauldron clanged softly. Lily rolled her eyes dramatically next to James, but I could see a smile tugging at her lips.

Slughorn turned around abruptly. He looked to Lily and James, who somehow were keeping straight faces, as the class was laughing softly.

"Did you hear that?" He looked directly at Lily now, eyes questioning.

"Hear what Professor?" She asked innocently, her eyes round and wide.

"I thought I heard…" he trailed off uncertainly looking at Sirius, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I'm sorry, professor," I said, and knelt down on the floor, fishing out a quill from my sleeve. I stood up with the pen in my hand: "I must've dropped my quill."

Slughorn scrutinized me for a minute, and then nodded lightly. "No need to apologize Miss Philpott," he said, "let's carry on with the class shall we?"

Sirius chuckled next to me, neither of us looking at each other. "Quill," he whispered, as Slughorn walked back to check something in the textbook, "that was the best you could think of?" Lily and James had turned their attention back to the front of the class.

I was looking straight ahead, pretending to pay attention to Slughorn. "Yeah, well," I whispered still not looking at him. "I didn't see you come up with any brilliant excuses Mr. Mischief."

He bowed his head slightly, looking straight ahead. "Alright," he said, "I admit it, you beat me to it."

"Thank you," I said, "was that so hard?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, yeah," he said as he leant closer to me, "just don't let it get to your head." He tapped my temple lightly and I squirmed away, ignoring the effect his hands on my face had on me.

"Shut it," I let my hand slide down his forearm as I grabbed it and pulled it away from my face. My hand lingered for just a second, his skin warm, before I pulled back. He looked at me, his eyes gleaming. And then I did something I never would have dared do before the summer; I looked in his eyes (damn, those eyes) and winked.


	4. Part 3b: becoming an opportunist

After Monday, I decided to turn it down a little; I was finding that I very much enjoyed the process of seduction, and really, I didn't want to rush it. However, I wasn't one to miss an opportunity when it presented itself to me.

On Thursday, one such opportunity came knocking. I was outside on the grounds with Sirius, Lily and James, the only four Gryffindor's from our year still in care of magical creatures. Professor Kettleburn was teaching us how to care for and control crups, a lesson I was enjoying immensely. It was a nice day, the early autumn sun warming the clearing we occupied and filling the air with the warm, earthy smell of the grass and the trees, their leaves not quite yellow yet.

We had been paired off and given a little crup puppy each to learn how to sever its two-pronged tail and to control it around muggles. Lily and I were laughing as our puppy chased its tails, becoming more and more confused when he caught one tail and its other one was still free.

A little while into the lesson, a second year Gryffindor girl came hurrying up to the class, panting heavily after the long run. She looked around at the class and blushed before running up to professor Kettleburn to whisper something in his ear, while he crouched unsteadily. When she pulled back, she handed him a note, and turned towards the class looked at James and Sirius and blushed again.

"Very well," said professor Kettleburn after his eyes finished scanning the page. "Miss Evans, Mr. Potter, it seems that you are required in Professor McGonagall's office."

Lily got up from where she was crouched on the floor, her face ridden with curiosity. With an apologetic glance to me, she grabbed James and the pair followed after the blushing girl to their mysterious and intriguing duties.

I scooped up my pup, who was trying to chase after Lily, and moved over to where James had just been next to Sirius.

"Hey there," I said as I sat down next to him.

He grinned lopsidedly at me. "Hey cookie." His crup was on its back, as Sirius rubbed it belly.

"What in the hell was that all about?"

He shrugged, "don't know," he seemed to think about for a minute, "maybe the first years are rebelling?"

I thought about this for minute. "I did hear vague battle cries this morning on my way down to breakfast," I mused as I picked up a twig and threw it for Phil (yes, I named him) to chase. He sprinted off and his two tails bobbed happily as he tussled with it.

He nodded solemnly, "yes, I've heard whispers. I was concerned about this." His eyebrows furrowed, his face completely serious.

"No wonder McGonagall needed Lily and James," I said, "I've heard those pesky eleven year-olds can be absolutely ruthless."

"Yes, yes, right you are," Sirius said, now sounding distinctly posher than he had only moments before. "And goodness know our Jim has an excellent track record for calming down pre-teen girls."

I laughed at this, no longer able to keep a straight face; while it was quite obvious to anyone actually old enough to date James that he was head-over-heels for Lily, the younger classmen did seem to have a soft spot for him. If we're being honest, all the boys in our year received more than their fair share of attention from the opposite gender (which was not at all annoying or anything), hell even Peter had a small following. There had been many a time where the boys had had to politely excuse themselves from the clutches of adoring first- or second years, giggling excitedly at them.

"Maybe you should go," I said teasingly, "you and James walk in on your white horses, the fighting will end for all the giggling."

"I shall go right this instant!" Sirius made as if to get up and leave, but was pulled back down by his crup, which had got him by the sleeve of his robe and was yanking it rigorously. He crumbled back to the ground unceremoniously, and laughed, scooping up his pup and playing with him. I felt as if my heart was swelling to twice its size as I laughed with him. He was close enough to me that I could smell the sunshine on his skin, mixed with an earthy smell that was just so Sirius. I was unable to contain the smile that was spread across my face; I was happy there, with Sirius and the crups. It felt easy. He'd shrugged his robes off against the sun, and I could see his muscles through his thin, white shirt, moving as he played with the puppy. My eyes moved slowly up his arms to his neck, and I had to remind myself that kissing my friend's neck in the middle of class was _not_ an appropriate thing to do. I looked up to his eyes to find him looking at me intently, and when our eyes met, he smiled languidly and all thoughts flew out of my mind.

Our attention was diverted by professor Kettleburn. He had been walking about the class, distributing healing paste for the crups and monitoring our painless severing charms, lest anything happen. He had now made his way around to Sirius and myself. I flushed as I broke eye-contact with Sirius and had to take a deep breath to regain my mind.

"Mr. Black, Miss Philpott, I see we have a little more on our hands here," he said eyeing each of our puppies. "Why don't I hold on to your puppy Mr. Black, so you can perform the severing charm on Miss Philpott's puppy here?"

"Phil," I corrected him automatically, "will it be very painful for him?" I knew it was normal for crup puppies to sever one of their tails to avoid muggle attention, but I had grown quite fond of Phil, and did not at all like the idea of him being hurt.

"No, Miss Philpott, I assure you, it won't hurt one bit," Kettleburn said plainly.

I held Phil lightly while Sirius performed the charm (flawlessly), and applied the paste. The effect of it was quite incredible; after ten minutes, Phil showed no sign of ever having had a second tail at all. I looked upon fondly as he once again began chasing his tail, finding it decidedly easier now.

The removal of Snuffles' (which Sirius had so originally named his crup) second tail went equally painlessly as I performed the charm and applied the paste. Before long he had joined Phil and they were chasing each other happily about on the grass.

"So, what's the plan," I said later as we were walking back towards to castle after the lesson. The sun had withdrawn behind a cloud and Sirius had put his robes back on for the trek back to the castle.

He looked at me questioningly.

"I mean I was expecting there to be flying pigs or something by now, you know," I explained "one last year at Hogwarts to put it through the ringer." I grinned as we were passed by a couple of ravenclaws from our class. "I reckon," I continued, "that this ominous silence means you're planning something big." I raised my eyebrows and looked over at him.

He smiled conspiratorially. "I don't know what you're talking about." He arched an eyebrow defiantly, as if to say, how dare you question my intentions? "We've simply realized it was time for us to grow up, and become proper gentlemen."

At this, I burst out laughing, and pushed him playfully. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!"

He grinned and bumped me back, as I continued laughing. I was very aware of my close proximity to him. His arm brushing mine every so often as we walked, leaving my skin tingling everywhere his skin touched mine. I thought of how easy it would be to just—

"Shit!" I tripped on my robes and lunged forward, sure to hit the ground, had Sirius' strong hands not grabbed my arms and pulled me back up.

"Fuck, Maggie," he laughed, "are there ever times where you don't trip and fall?"

His hands were hot on my arms, and my skin felt too tight for my body as my stomach surged. I could feel my heart pounding as I moved my eyes up slowly to meet his. I bit my lip and laughed lightly. "Apparently I don't need firewhiskey to lose my balance do I?" At the reference to the last time he caught me, his eyes darkened slightly, and they bore into me with a dark intensity that made my toes tingle.

I broke my eyes away from his, as I regained my footing, and he let go of my arms slowly. "I guess it's good you caught me," I said, still not meeting his eyes and mourning the loss of his hands on my arms. The wind was picking up and I raised a hand to keep the hair out of my face. I could feel him, shifting where we were stood so close, having still not moved away from him.

I bit my lip again, and looked up to his eyes uncertainly, feeling like I was beginning to enter dangerous territory. He was still looking back at me quizzically, and with something in his eyes I couldn't quite place. A gust of wind rushed past us and ruffled his hair. He looked beautiful and so close, yet so far away at the same time. I was so tempted, in that moment, to disregard my plan and reach out to brush his hair from those stormy eyes that could light my insides on fire, consequences be damned.

But I didn't. Not yet. I cleared my throat and took a slight step back, feeling the blood once again rush to my cheeks. Sirius shook his head slightly, and clenched his fists for a moment, before he turned back towards the path. But as we continued walking back to the castle, talking and laughing, I could swear I could feel him looking at me more than once, with that same quizzical look in his eyes.

Boy, seduction was fun.

…

Later that night I was sat in the great hall with the girls for dinner. The boys hadn't come down yet, and I was using the opportunity to fill them in on my progress in the Sirius department. They all giggled conspiratorially as I told them about what had happened after Lily and James left care of magical creatures.

"I am so proud!" Jemma grinned as she scooped some rice and a chicken leg onto her plate, "it's like you've finally grown up, oh, we've waited for so long!"

Emily laughed, picked up a roasted carrot from her plate and took a bite of it. "Did you do it on purpose," she raised an eyebrow "or were you just so loved up you didn't remember where your feet should go?"

She laughed as I threw a pea at her.

"Don't think you can worm your way out of my question just because you throw food at me, missy," she said and picked the pea out of her hair and put in on the table. "I'm onto you, she grinned wickedly.

Luckily I was spared having to answer the question as the subject of the conversation came up and sat down next to me. "You're on to what?" He asked as he grabbed a plate.

James settled down next to Lily (big surprise there) and smiled sideway at her. She smiled bashfully back at him, with a slight pink tinge in her cheek (now there was a surprise).

"Hey snuffles," I greeted Sirius next to me, and grinned trying to distract him from the earlier conversation. I could see Lily and Emily trying not to laugh, while Jemma raised an eyebrow.

"Snuffles?" Remus had settled himself down next to James, with Peter opposite him.

Sirius looked at me with a lopsided smile and raised his eyebrows at me. I felt my mouth go dry and my heart beating faster as I met his eyes, and realized suddenly the flaw in my plan. Apparently seduction was not a one-sided affair when Sirius Black in all his gorgeously dark-haired glory was concerned. As I looked in his eyes, all I could think of was his hands on my arms and his lips on my jaw.

I was pulled out of my, let's call it 'moment', by James. "Is that what we're calling you now?"

My eyes snapped back down to the table. I could feel Lily watching me and I met her eyes which held a knowing look. Ugh, how annoyingly gloaty and perceptive she could be. I looked pointedly at James and back to her and she flushed and ducked her head.

"It's not." Sirius was stern, which was not a good look for him. I chuckled.

"If you say so, snuffles."

James grinned widely. "That just works on so many levels," he said to Sirius with a mischievous glint in his eye.

Remus and Peter chuckled, and Peter ruffled Sirius' hair lightly (if I'm totally honest here, I was a little jealous). "What a good boy, snuffles," he said as Sirius swatted his hands away and began fussing with his hair.

"Stop it, Pete," he exclaimed, "we are not making this a thing!" He looked at each of the boys in turn and turned to glare at me. I shrugged, as if to say, hey, you chose it.

"Okay, snuffles," laughed James. Remus and Peter laughed again.

"I don't get it," said Jemma, "what's so funny?"

All the boys stopped laughing at once and became oddly quiet. Jemma raised her eyebrows at James, still waiting for the joke to be explained to her.

"Erhm…" James began, but trailed off seemingly at a loss for words. He looked to Sirius uncertainly, his eyes wide.

"Well…" said Sirius, "it's funny because of," he looked like he had been put on a stage and asked to sing while removing all his clothes. "… The thing," he continued uncertainly and looked at the boys. Peter shook his head lightly, looking slightly panicked, and James laughed nervously. Sirius looked to be getting more frightened for each minute, his eyes widening and his mouth twitching like he wanted to say something.

"The dog star!" Remus shouted suddenly, and we all jumped. "It's funny because of," he rubbed his head, "well, because of the dog star, which Sirius, uhh…, well… he is."

"Yes," exclaimed James, "yes, the dog star, that's what is funny." The boys nodded enthusiastically and all chuckled uncertainly.

Jemma nodded dubiously. "Right," she said slowly, "haha. Funny."

Emily and Lily both had their eyebrows raised, and I didn't need to be a legilimens to that they were wondering what in the hell that was. We all fell silent for a moment.

"So," I said when the tension was starting to become awfully uncomfortable, "what happened to you two earlier?" I looked at Lily and James. "What did McGonagall need?"

"Oh, it was really funny actually," said Lily, but was cut off.

"Yeah," said James, picking up a fry from Sirius' plate, "a small first year rebellion." He looked at me and winked. "Don't worry though, nothing I couldn't fix from my white horse." I started a little; Sirius must have told James about our conversation earlier. I felt a warmth spread in my chest and looked sideways to Sirius who met my eyes tentatively.

Fuck. I was really getting in deep.


End file.
